Shepard's Warning
by talesofthepast
Summary: NCIS is called in to investigate the suicide of an Australian Marine. Things get complicated with the arrival of mysterious Junior Special Agent Skye Jennifer Baxter from the Australian Agency and the many attempts to steal the Marine's remains...
1. Prologue

**Welcome to my latest fanfiction: this time, NCIS. Read, review and enjoy. This is only the prologue. **

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_**Abandoned Warehouse, Washington DC, 25th February, 9.15pm**_

The teenage boy pulled open the rusty green door and led his giggling girlfriend inside. The door made a loud screeching noise but the warehouses hadn't been in use since the 80s. No one would have heard them. The surrounding was mainly bare, just a few hooks on the wall with rope tied around them and a rickety old ladder which led up to the termite-worn loft. When he had come there earlier that day, he had checked it all out to make sure it was OK. It may have been only a warehouse but it was cheaper than a motel and they had less chance of getting caught than if they were at either of their house. As he shut the large door behind him, his girlfriend flicked back her long blonde hair and laughed, looking around the place he had chosen for their little getaway.

"Why this place, Mikey? It smells like abestos." She pointed out, turning back to her boyfriend, "What did you want to show me that couldn't have been asked anywhere else?"

Mikey walked casually up to his girlfriend, one hand in the baggy pockets of his jeans and the other running through his spiky up orange hair. It was a nervous habit. He always did it when he was anxious or scared. Naturally, she noticed.

"Are you OK, Mikey?" her eyes analysed him in concern as her boyfriend continued to feel his hair.

Mikey sighed, "Bronwyn... remember how we talked last week about... expressing our feelings for each other?"

Bronwyn's eyes widened in both shock and anticipation, "Oh, Mikey..."

"I don't want to pressure you into anything you don't want to do" Mikey rapidly added, looking away from her, "I just... I love you and I really want to show you how much I-"

Mikey was cut off as Bronwyn rushed in and pressed her lips against his. He first froze in shock but after getting over the initial shock, he fervently kissed her back. After a few minutes, she finally pulled away from him and looked up at Mikey, smiling happily.

"I'm ready if you are" her Texan accent reassured her boyfriend, as he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close to him.

Mikey's index finger glided gently up and down her girlfriend's oval-shaped face, looking at her with adoration, "I love you"

Bronwyn smiled at her boyfriend before he pushed his lips onto hers. Their tongues battled for dominance when, to her surprise, Mikey lifted her up and pushed her against the wall. She felt a stabbing sensation in her back as he crushed her against a hook. Bronwyn felt blindly behind her for the wall to push herself to a different section of the wall. However, she felt a rope and accidentally tugged on that. The sound of rolling mechanisms and sliding rope pulled the lovestruck pair out of their foreplay.

"What the heck is that?" Mikey demanded, looking around for what it caused.

They heard something drop behind them and looked behind Mikey. Hanging from a noose was a man with blonde buzz-cut hair and ghostly pale white skin. He was in a grey training shirt and dark green tracksuit pants. The sneakers on his feet were still twitching. His eyes were still open, bright blue baubles buldging out of his skull.

Bronwyn's scream echoed around the 57 warehouses and was heard by the people in apartments two blocks away.

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**That's the prologue done. Now we get onto the good stuff. He he!**

**Review pplz!**


	2. Apparent Suicide

**Thanks for reading the prologue and progressing to the next chapter. Makes me feel special. Anyway, here's the required crap. I don't own NCIS and all this stuff. But I do own my character. Yadda yadda yadda. Now read on!**

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_****__Chapter 1_

The buzzing of Tony's nose plucker was driving as much a hole in Ziva's head as it probably was in Tony's nose. She looked up from her computer screen for the fiftieth time that morning to see Tony looking into the small pocket mirror in his hand and flaring his nostrils at it.

"Do you mind?" Ziva demanded, glaring at him.

"No, do you?" Tony didn't look up from his mirror.

"Yes, I do" Ziva replied indignantly, slamming her hand down on her keyboard, "It is distracting. Why must you clip your nose hair here?"

"My electricity has been cut off. Kinda didn't pay on time" Tony replied, finally turning off his nose trimmer and dumping it in his open drawer full of everything but the kitchen sink. He kicked it shut while he turned to face Ziva properly, "I blame the computers"

"It's not the computer's fault. It's always up-to-speed" McGee interjected as he walked in, holding three coffees, "Coffee, anyone?"

"Oh, yes, please" Ziva sighed in relief as McGee handed her a cup full of steaming cappuccino, "I was up to 10 last night and woke up at 5. A get-me-up is what I need"

"Pick-me-up, Ziva" Tony corrected her as McGee gave him his cup, "Thanks, McGee. Why are you so late?"

McGee shrugged as he walked past Tony's desk towards his own. Tony then turned his chair to face McGee's desk and watched him as he booted up his computer, "Well, are you going to share you with the class, McGeek?"

"It's really none of your business, Tony" McGee replied, not looking away from the computer screen.

"Ah. So it's either something embarrassing or something which you think isn't worth mentioning" Tony speculated, laying back casually in his chair, "Did you upgrade a level in World of Warcraft? Or were you spending all morning talking to your geek buddies on chat?"

McGee rolled his eyes, "For your information, Tony, I was late because I recieved a phone call from my publisher this morning"

"Ooh" Ziva put down her coffee and looked at McGee expectantly, "Go on, McGee, what did she say?"

McGee sounded solemn in his reply, "She told me that _Rock Hollow_ is doing well. So well, in fact, they want an extract of the next novel in the next three weeks"

Ziva clapped her hands in glee, happily looking at McGee, "That's good news, isn't it, McGee?"

When McGee didn't reply straight away, the happiness in Ziva's manner dampened a little, "Isn't it?"

McGee sighed, "It would be... if it weren't for the fact that I'm suffering a bad case of writer's block"

Ziva's eyebrows narrowed, her face now puzzled, "Is that very painful?"

"Writer's block isn't a real medical condition, Ziva" Tony explained, still looking at McGee, "It's something that authors get when their imagination begins to stale, which is happening to McGee"

"It is not" McGee glared at Tony before looking over at Ziva, who was still sitting in confusion, "When an author cannot think of a story or think of a way for a story to continue, that is called writer's block. It's a mental, artistic thing"

Ziva went 'Oh' and nodded, a look of realisation dawning on her face while thinking about it.

"Writer's block. The enemy of the bestseller" Tony said as he stood up and walked around his desk, fixing up his jacket and tie as he does, "Many traumatising events can cause writer's block: betrayal, death, divorce. A perfect example, _'Secret Window'_. Johnny Depp's character suffered writer's block after he discovered his wife was having an affair"

"How did he cure it?" Ziva asked, curious.

"Killed the wife and the lover"

They all froze and stood to attention as Gibbs entered the room. Their silver-haired no-nonsense boss, holding his regular cup of coffee, headed straight for his desk and grabbed his coat, "Let's go"

"Where to, boss?" Tony inquired as the team picked up their ever-ready bags and followed Gibbs to the elevator.

"Abandoned warehouse lot in Baltimore" Gibbs informed them as they entered the elevator, "Dead marine discovered hanging by two teenagers late last night"

"Hanging where?" Ziva asked, still a little confused by the previous conversation

"By his neck" Gibbs replied matter-of-factly as the elevator doors closed on them.

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A crime scene was already set up as the team pulled up in their SVU out the front of Warehouse 35 around an hour later. The front of the warehouse was already taped off, with the local authorities surrounding the general warehouse area and warding off curious teenagers that obviously heard the story from their friends. Ziva eyed the gathering crowd as they headed up to the taped off scene.

"How come they find this so fascinating?" Ziva demanded.

"They're teenagers, Ziva. Their lives are full of school, sex, bullying and parties" Tony explained, waving at a group of cute girls who were giggling and giving him the one over, "Give them any chance for hormone-driven fun and they'll take it. What's more fun than finding out that your friends discovered a dead body?"

"DiNozzo!" Gibbs barked at him without turning around.

"On your six, boss" Tony replied as Ziva and Tony hurried after him. When they reached the tape, a short, stout man in a police officer's uniform approached them. He had a large, bushy moustache which reminded Tony strongly of Tom Selleck from _Magnum P.I._ He stood with the air of a pompous authoritarian who thought it was his God-given right to rule over people.

"NCIS?" he asked, wiggling his large bushy moustache in their direction.

Gibbs eyed him with his famous stare, replying dryly "Yes, sir"

"Constable Johnson. Your body men are already here, informed us that you'd be right behind them" the constable gestured behind him, moving slightly to reveal Ducky and young Palmer examining their victim, who was dangling 2 feet off the ground with a piece of rope around his neck.

"Thanks, constable. We'll take it from here" Gibbs didn't meet eye contact with him as the team ducked under the tape and headed towards the pair standing around the body. Palmer was fiddling with their tool bag while Ducky was walking around the body, searching for all signs of trauma to certify time of death. Tony and Ziva walked off to gather evidence and take photos of the area while McGee and Gibbs headed straight for Ducky.

"What do you have, Duck?" Gibbs asked, standing behind Ducky.

Ducky sighed, "Ah, Jethro, I'm afraid that you and your team may not be really required here. All the trauma we can find seems to be consistent with the hanging"

"Seems to be a clear-cut case of suicide" Palmer interjected, still fiddling with the lock of the tool kit.

Gibbs watched on silently as McGee pressed the dead man's thumb on the screen of his portable I.D device. A gift from the Coast Guard Investigative Service, McGee loves using it, even though it's main grim purpose was to identify the remains of dead marines. Suddenly, it emitted a beep, indicating that it had found a match.

"OK, boss, we got an I.D" McGee announced, reading from his I.D device, "His name was Lieutenant Kristopher Jones, Kristopher spelt with a K. Born 15th May 1973 and joined the Navy right out of university. Hmmm, that's funny"

"What is it?" Gibbs asked flatly.

"Lieutenant Jones wasn't a US marine" McGee informed them.

Tony flashed away on his camera, taking some of McGee to look intimidating, "So what is he? Federal agent? Undercover spy? Ooh, how about an undercover hitman?"

"Wrong on all counts, Tony" McGee replied, slightly irritated, shoving the camera out of his face, "He wasn't even a U.S citizen"

"Then where is he from?" Palmer asked, confused.

"Australian Navy Corps"

They all turned to see a new figure enter the scene and walk up to them. It was a girl, a young girl, only a teenager. She was small in stature, but was built from workouts. She wore black combat boots, black business pants with a band shirt and a thick black jacket. While she dressed for her age, she walked and stood like someone much older. Her strides were determined and confident. It was difficult for them to make out her face as it was hidden underneath a hood. McGee walked forward a step to confront her.

"Sorry, no civilians allowed here. I know this all looks exciting, but you really aren't allowed here" McGee explained politely.

"I'm no civilian" the girl replied sternly. Suddenly, her hand came up and ripped off her hood, revealing her face. She had bright-red long hair done up in a practical high ponytail. Her small oval face exerted an authority which would usually be on the face of a person many years older than her. The feature about her that sent shivers up McGee's body was her eyes: greyish-blue windows of steel, which looked like they could stare down a raging bull. They observed all the individuals in the scene with an objective, analytical gaze.

"Hey"

With the exception of the girl, who didn't even move, they all glanced by her to see Constable Johnson stride up to her. His moustache bristled at the fact she had gotten past his security and him, a clear violation of his authority.

"Miss, can you leave? This is a crime scene" the constable demanded.

The girl replied without turning around, her voice dripping with sarcasm, "Really? I didn't see that. The bright yellow tape, officials in uniform and the dead body only hinted at it, but thank you for clearing up that dilemma, sir"

She rolled her eyes. She clearly didn't tolerate pompous fools, Tony thought as he grinned to himself. The constable walked up to her, his face now a light pink with humiliation, and twisted her around to face her.

"Now, see here, Miss-"

But he didn't get past it as she grabbed his arm and kicked him around, twisting it behind his back and putting her foot on his back, forcing him to kneel on the ground. Ziva, Gibbs and Tony hovered their hands over their guns, ready in case she does something drastic, but they really weren't too keen on defending him. The constable spluttered and groaned under her force.

"Listen, _sir_" the girl growled, "You touch me like that again, I swear, I'll snap your arm so fast you'd think you'd just had it chopped off. Got it?"

With that, she let go of him and threw him to the ground, leaving him there to rub circulation back into his arm and crack his back, while she turned back to the team. Tony felt the respect for this girl rise as she pulled out her wallet and flashed a badge at the NCIS team.

"My name's Junior Special Agent Skye Baxter, from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service Australia" she explained, showing all of them the badge to establish its genuinity.

"But you look no more than 17" Ziva argued as she walked forward and took the badge from her, looking at it, "That's impossible"

"No, it's not. And I'm 16, but thanks for the flattery" Skye replied with fake happiness. Suddenly, she walked forward and grabbed the portable I.D device off McGee. Before he could protest, she pressed her thumbprint on the I.D device. After a couple of seconds, the device beeped and Skye handed the machine back to McGee. McGee stood and read it in shocked silence for a second, while Skye looked at him in bored expectation.

"So, you gonna read it out or stand there looking reminiscent of a guppy fish?" Skye asked, sounding slightly irritated at the silence.

McGee shook himself out of his shock and read out what was on the screen, "Name: Skye Jennifer Baxter. Rank: Junior Special Agent. Trained in martial arts, shooting, knifeswork and interrogation. Promoted to fieldwork in 2006"

"At 12?" Ziva was shocked as she went over the badge, trying to find some sign of it being fake.

Skye shrugged, "I'm a fast learner. You should know all about it, having worked with Mossad, Agent David"

Ziva stared at her as Skye took back her badge and pocketed it, "How-"

"I'll explain later. Now what have you learnt so far?"

They all watched after her, their expressions of shock and intrigue. All except Gibbs. He was shocked, of course, but he was too composed to show it. He just watched her with an expression of mild surprise and observed her movements as she moved around the body. He noticed her body stiffen as she saw the face of the dead marine and saw her eyes sadden as if she had come to terms with a fear.

Ducky was the first to come out of his silent stupor and began to explain it to her, "It seems like an open-shut case of suicide, Miss Baxter. Nothing much to investigate"

Tony cleared his throat and interjected, "His name was-

"Lieutenant Kristopher Jones. Born May 15th 1973" Skye interrupted, continuing on in a matter-of-fact tone, "Winner of numerous medals for services to his country. Saved a mate in Afghanistan, almost cost him his life and leg"

Gibbs raised an eyebrow, "And you know all this because?"

"He is the whole reason I travelled to the United States" Skye replied, pulled her jacket around her tighter, "Lieutenant Jones was on a mission from the Naval Service, some confidential bullshit, and he was supposed to check in 5 days ago. When he didn't respond after 3 days, they sent me to track him down. I sort of knew what to expect"

"You knew he was suicidal?" McGee asked, horrified.

Skye raised an eyebrow, "Suicidal? This is murder"

A small pause followed, broken by a cough by Palmer, before he said, "Didn't you hear Dr. Mallard, Miss Baxter? This-"

He was cut off by a steely glare from Skye, which cause him to gulp and shut up. When he backed down, Skye spoke, "I know what Dr. Mallard said, Mr. Palmer. Suicide? No. Never. Ridiculous"

Skye stood back a bit and pointed at the victim's face, "Have any of you bothered to take a look at our victim's face?"

They all followed Skye's finger to Lieutenant Jones' face, taking in his pale white face with his bright blue eyes buldging out of his skull.

Tony shrugged, "What about it?"

Skye rolled her eyes, "His eyes! I may be young, but I'm no fool, Agent DiNozzo. Suicide victims seem almost at peace when they die, regardless of how they die. A suicidal victim would welcome death like an old friend. Their eyes are closed, waiting for death to take them. Now tell me what's wrong with this 'suicide'?"

Ducky looked up at the dangling body and spoke slowly, "His eyes are open in horror and fear, maybe an essence of surprise like he was... taken from behind"

Gibbs looked upon the lieutenant's body with a platonic interest, "So the lieutenant was murdered"

Skye took her eyes off the bodyguard and looked at Gibbs, shoving her hands in her pockets, "Well, Agent Gibbs, this means that your team and I will be seeing a lot more of each other"

"What?" Tony raised a quizzical eyebrow.

"I was sent to find Lieutenant Jones. I found him dead. It's my duty to discover the cause of death and, if murdered, bring the murder to justice" Skye said flatly, looking directly at Gibbs while she is saying this, "If it means working with you, so be it. I have no issue with it. But I'm not going anywhere without the body of the lieutenant"

Gibbs paused for a minute, looking at her. Slowly he walked over to her, in a stride which would have intimidated the others, but not Skye. She stood tall, as tall as her small stature could allow, and faced him with a gaze which battled his for dominance. When he was right next to her, he stood over her easily. But Skye refused to back down.

"What if _we_ have an issue with it?" Gibbs asked her in his soft but cold voice which would have scared his toughest opponents.

Skye glared right back at him, "Well, this oughta be fun for all of us"

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**Thanks for reading. Now that you've met Skye, I shall establish her character more. This'll be good.**

**P.S- I know NCIS is a purely American institution but- how do i put this politely- I don't care. Glad we got that straightened out.**

**Review pplz!**


	3. Car Chase

**Thanks for progressing to the next chapter. Makes me feel special. Anyway, here's the required crap. I don't own NCIS and all this stuff. But I do own my character. Yadda yadda yadda. Now read on!**

**What's Happening: _At the crime scene of Lieutenant Jones' murder, the NCIS team meet Junior Special Agent Skye Baxter, who is to stay on the case until his murderer is caught..._**

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_****__Chapter 2_

Tony glanced into the review mirror for the umpteenth time to catch a glance at the young agent sitting in the back seat. Skye was absorbed in a small hand-held device which had a pair of headphones plugged into it. She was listening to whatever it was playing, so Tony guessed it was an MP3 player of some sort. She had a medium-sized backpack next to her on the seat, which she held onto with the crook of one of her arms. Whatever was in there was either important to the Australian NCIS or to her.

They were on their way back to NCIS headquarters. McGee and Gibbs were with Ducky and Palmer in the van. Tony and Ziva had to take the SUV back and Skye had opted to get in the car instead of going in the van, much to McGee's relief.

"So, what do you think about this?" Tony glanced momentarily at Ziva. Her face was stiff, trying to remain devoid of emotion, but he could see in her eyes that she was fuming.

"About what?" Tony decided to play dumb, but knew what she was mad about.

"About her!" Ziva said. She paused and took a look behind her, making sure Skye wasn't listening, before turning back, "She is too young to be a NCIS agent, much less a field agent. She's 16, she should be having a childhood"

"Says the one who enrolled in the army right out of high school" Tony said to her as he passed through a roundabout, "You probably learnt to kill when you were 10"

"No. I had a reasonable normal childhood" Ziva snapped, before adding, "And I was 17 when I first used a gun"

"She's only one year off" Tony retorted.

"But still, I'm from Israel, a dangerous country. I had no choice" Ziva argued.

"Maybe she doesn't either", Tony came to a stop at a red light before turning to Ziva, "She was only promoted to field work at 12. How long do you think she was in the agency before that? She would have had to been extremely young"

Ziva paused. How old had this girl been? She would have been ridiculously young. Absurdly young.

"I was eight"

They jumped at the sound of Skye's voice. Slowly, they turned to face her as she looked up from her hand-held device. Judging from her bored facial expression, Ziva guessed that Skye has had to tell this tale many times before.

"I was six years old when the Director first saw potential in me. My parents were two of the best NCIS agents out. After a talk with the Director, my parents began training me for both desk and field work. I only had days off on Sundays, and I spent that day doing homework for school. When I was eight, I sat the entrance exam and practical. Passed with flying colours" Skye explained.

"What about school?" Ziva asked

Skye shrugged, "Private tutor. When I was accepted by NCIS, I was taken out of school. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays were tutoring nights. Weekends were spent training with guns, knifes and my martial arts. Mondays were homework nights. Friday was the night I had off, which I mainly spent resting"

A honk from behind woke Tony and Ziva from their trance of awe. Skye looked back down at her device, "The light's green"

Tony turned back and faced the front, to see the light was indeed green. He quickly drove ahead, before the guy behind them honked again. The next five minutes were spent in silence. Ziva glanced back at Skye a couple of times, whilst thinking about her own childhood. She did have it relatively normal. Her life was spent surrounded by Mossad agents but she didn't have anything to do with it until she left high school. Skye was still of high school age. She deserved some fun. But Skye's life was clearly dedicated to her work... like she had been...

A beeping emitted from Skye's device and Skye frowned. After a moment, she said, "Agent DiNozzo?"

"Yes?" Tony asked, concentrating on the road.

"Is there a quicker route to NCIS by car than the route we are taking?"

"Nope, this is the quickest and most legal way. Why?" Tony glanced at her in the review mirror.

"Dr. Mallard's van just turned off three blocks ago. They're going in the wrong direction" Skye announced.

Ziva and Tony glanced at each other with worried expressions. There was a pause as Tony quickly pulled the car over and they turned to Skye. She was looking at them, an itch of impaitence growing on her face.

"How do you know?" Tony asked

Skye rolled her eyes, "I planted a tracking device on his van when I arrived at the crime scene. There's one on this car too. I'm tracking them with this"

Skye held up her device, "Has GPS in it. Now, I suggest one of you call them up and find out why they're going the wrong way"

Ziva looked at Tony, "I'll do it"

Ziva pulled her mobile out of her pocket and dialled McGee's number, a feeling of anxiety building up in her as she dialled his number in. There was a moment of ringing before McGee picked up. The first thing she heard in the background was the sound of screeching tyres and gunfire.

"Ziva?" McGee shouted into the phone. Everyone in the car could hear it.

"McGee! Where are you?" Ziva demanded, putting the phone on speakerphone.

"We were driven off the interstate by some guys in a Camaro. They've been chasing us for the past 5 minutes and shooting at us" McGee shouted, "Me and Gibbs are trying to hold them off but- Ooph!"

There was a clatter as the phone was dropped and a scramble as McGee searched for the phone. Finally, he picked it up and spoke into it, "Palmer is having trouble driving under pressure! We need backup!"

"We're on our way" Ziva then hung up.

"Agent DiNozzo, let Agent David drive!" Skye barked at him, sitting back and strapping herself in.

Tony looked at her like she was crazy, "Have you ever seen her drive? We'll get killed!"

Skye glared at him, "We need to get there quickly and Agent David is the quickest driver. Let's go!"

Ziva jumped out of the car, along with a reluctant Tony, and they quickly switched sides. Tony strapped himself in immediately while Ziva did hers up and revved the engine of the SUV.

"Just like old times" Ziva muttered. There was a screeching of tyres and the car was off.

Skye turned the GPS on loudspeaker so it could tell Ziva directions, while Tony held on for dear life. They screeched through intersections and blasted through roundabouts with incredible speed. Skye opened a window to keep an eye out for the van. Listening to the GPS' instructions, Ziva turned into an alleyway. They immediately saw the van, tipped on its side, wheel side facing them. A light blue '86 Camaro was 10 feet away from it, protecting two men in black ski masks. Skye could see Gibbs and McGee hiding behind the van, occasionally peeking out to shoot at the masked men, but quickly hiding from a reign of fire coming from the men's AK- 47.

Ziva braked the car just as Skye undid her seat belt and jumped out of the car.

"Agent Baxter!" Tony shouted, but she ignored him. She held up a black pistol and aimed it at the men, before letting fire. She got the taller one, instantly, hitting him in the back of the head. He fell immediately, face first on the asphalt. His partner turned to see Skye, but he got hit right in the centre of the chest before he could react, causing him to drop his gun and collapse on the ground. Tony and Ziva were now out of the van and watched Skye as she looked at the dead bodies, motionless before her.

"Agent Baxter, are you OK?" Tony called out to her.

"Of course" Skye said, still holding her gun at the ready, "Agent DiNozzo, contact NCIS. Ask for backup. Agent David, with me"

Tony nodded and went back to the SUV to get his phone, while Ziva and Skye, brandishing their weapons, headed towards the van. Gibbs and McGee, also holding their guns at the ready, walked out from behind the van and towards them.

"Coast clear?" Skye barked to them.

"Did you get them?" McGee asked

"Skye killed them both. Tony's calling for back-up right now" Ziva explained, all of them finally putting their guns down, "What about Ducky and Palmer?"

"We're fine, thank you for your concern, Agent David" Ducky said as he and Palmer appeared out of the back of the van. Ducky looked a little shaken, but was mainly fine. Palmer, however, was as white as a sheet and shaking badly. He clearly hadn't been in a situation like this before. Skye walked past them and into the van. The body bag, containing the Lieutenant, was still in there, strapped to the stretcher. Skye let out a sigh of relief before turning back to the others. Gibbs and McGee were leaning against a wall, breathing deeply, while Ziva helped Ducky out of the van. Palmer didn't move. Skye thought that maybe he couldn't move. She glanced back the van to see Tony sitting in the SUV, on his mobile phone, talking rapidly.

"No one's hurt?" Skye asked.

"Just a few grazes from the crash, but nothing major" Ducky reassured them, before looking at Palmer, "Mr. Palmer may need to be treated for shock, though"

Skye walked out of the van as Palmer collapsed to the ground, still shaking. She stood next to him and looked at the damage around her.

"Now we start with the questions: Who? What were they after? Why?" McGee said.

"Well, they were clearly after the body of the Lieutenant" Gibbs said, pulling himself off the wall, "There is no other reason for them to chase after a body van"

Ducky brushed some gravel off his jacket, "Maybe they left some forensic evidence suggesting their identity"

"Or maybe the Lieutenant had something they wanted" Skye said, looking at the destruction around her.

Ziva nodded, "We won't know for sure until we get back to headquarters"

Tony approached them, "Is everyone fine?"

"We're OK, Tony" McGee nodded wearily, "Palmer's a little shocked but besides that, we're fine"

"OK" Tony held up his phone, "Back-up is on it's way now. They're bringing another van and a tow truck"

Skye looked back at the Camaro and the dead bodies, "Well, while we're waiting, we might as well tag-and-bag the new corpses. Hope you got some more body bags"

Clearly the thought of more work pushed Palmer to breaking point, as at Skye's words, he fainted flat on the ground. Skye looked at him blankly and turned to walked towards the Camaro.

"You're gonna need one for him"

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**Thanks for reading. Sorry I took so long to update. **

**P.S- I know NCIS is a purely American institution but- how do i put this politely- I don't care. Glad we got that straightened out.**

**Review pplz!**


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